You Belong to Me
by yuripraetorian
Summary: Midori is off with her professor and Youko is working at Fuka Academy. It seems these two are not destined to be together after all...or are they? As usual, AU and OOC, because NO human knows what the future will bring. We can only speculate. Yuri.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **Sunrise still owns Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome. The 1952 song, "You Belong to Me," was the inspiration for this series, hence the title. This wonderful song was written by Chilton Price and recorded by Jo Stafford.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **This is the first joint series from my most beloved E.M. Praetorian and me. Actually, this is the very first piece from our joint account. I hope all our fans and readers enjoy this series, as well as future works from us.

* * *

**You Belong to Me**

When I got home after another long day at Fuka Academy, I grabbed a drink from the refrigerator and went to check my email. As my new email downloaded to my laptop, I sighed as I saw the same spam roll by. The last email caught my eye, because it did not look like the usual ad for breast enhancement or penis enlargement. It was from an email address I didn't recognize. I remembered Natsuki's warning mantra about opening email from people I didn't know, but…

"Lara Croft? From 'Tomb Raider'? Why would Angelina Jolie be writing to me?"

I laughed hard at my own silliness. Completely ignoring Natsuki's stern voice in my head, I clicked on it.

'_Long time, no hear, huh? Miss me? I've certainly been missing you. I just wanted to drop you a quick note before I don't have access to email again.'_

I sat staring at the email, completely baffled. In my mind, I ran through all the people I knew who would send an email like this. After a few seconds, I snapped my fingers and smiled.

"MIDORI!"

My mind drifted back to the day she said goodbye…

* * *

Midori paced the floor of my apartment. Her professor finally asked her to accompany him on a yearlong archaeological dig and for some strange reason; she didn't know what to tell him. I sat on my couch and watched her wear a circular pattern into my carpet, waiting for her to speak.

"Youko, you, of all people, know I need to do this," Midori stood in front of me and held my hands in both of hers.

"Yes, Midori, you know I completely understand," I smiled, trying hard to convey my sincerity through my own selfish heartache and disappointment.

* * *

Earlier that day…

We recently graduated from University together and I accepted a nursing position at the prestigious Fuka Academy. They offered Midori a position teaching History, which she accepted. I was elated when she told me, because I really wasn't looking forward to being without her after all these years together.

We decided to treat ourselves to an expensive dinner, to celebrate our good fortune of finding good paying positions right out of University. Over dinner, Midori suggested we share an apartment in Fuka for the first year. My heart soared and I readily agreed. By her second glass of wine, Midori was flirting outrageously and making me blush profusely.

"Let's go back to your place," Midori leaned over the table and whispered close to my ear.

"Midori," I lightly reprimanded, "You know how I feel about you making promises you don't intend to keep."

"Youko, when have I made promises I didn't keep?" Midori asked, a bit hurt.

I thought back and apologized. When it came to sex, Midori never made promises she didn't keep. Unfortunately, she never made promises of love.

"Okay, let me pay the bill so we can go," I kissed Midori's cheek and made her blush.

A drunken Midori is wonderfully free and I can get away with doing these sorts of things without upsetting her. A sober Midori is too repressed and uncomfortable. I placed my credit card down and while we waited for our waiter to return, Midori's mobile phone rang. She greeted the caller and excused herself.

I felt my heart sink as I watched her walk towards the restrooms. Somehow, I just knew this was not good and downed the remainder of my wine. When Midori returned to our table, the bill was paid and I was ready to leave.

"Let's go," I suggested happily and linked my arm in hers.

Midori silently nodded her head. Her demeanor was now unusually somber.

"Midori…?" I asked as I pulled her out of the restaurant.

"Hmmm…?" Midori mumbled as she stared down at the sidewalk under us.

"What happened?" I stopped and forced her to face me.

The crestfallen look on Midori's face spoke volumes and it confirmed my earlier suspicions.

"It was the Professor," Midori replied evenly.

"A new dig?" I asked flatly.

"Yes," Midori softly replied.

"When…?" I asked dejectedly.

"He wants to leave by the end of the week." Midori replied in a pained tone.

"BUT…," I exclaimed a bit too loud.

"Youko, I know, I know," Midori said in a reassuring tone, "I'm not too happy about this either," she added, sounding somewhat hoarse.

"Then don't go," I pouted, rather uncharacteristically.

Midori silently stared at the sidewalk outside the restaurant. I could see she was torn, but unfortunately, at that moment, I was not in a sympathetic mood.

"Youko…?" Midori looked up into my eyes with tears in hers.

I could not hide my surprise, because in all the years I've known her, Midori rarely, if ever, cried.

"Okay…I won't go," Midori muttered defeated.

Once again, I found myself staring at the top of Midori's head as she stared at the sidewalk again.

"The hell you won't!" I exclaimed.

Midori started in surprise and swiftly lifted her head to face me. She stared incredulous at me, her eyes wide with confusion.

"But, but…," Midori sputtered.

An uneasy feeling made me glance around us. I realized we had become the center of unwanted attention from a couple of seedy looking young men leaning against the side of the restaurant building.

"Midori, I think we had better continue this at my place," I motioned in the direction of the two seedy young men staring at us, "And _please_ don't get stupidly brave on me," I pleaded.

I linked my arm into Midori's and led her away from the front of the restaurant. A quick glance over our shoulders confirmed my worst nightmare. The two seedy young men were shadowing us, waiting for us to get to a less populated area.

"I think we should splurge for a taxi tonight," I whispered in Midori's ear.

Fortunately, we were able to hail a taxi about a minute later. Kami must have been looking out for us, because catching a taxi at that hour is usually quite difficult.

After we got back to my place, we got comfortable and talked into the wee hours of the next morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: ** The characters belong to Sunrise. Chilton Price wrote the 1952 song, "You Belong to Me" and Jo Stafford recorded it.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: **I love these characters and their journey of finding their way 'home'. As always read, review, and most of all enjoy.

* * *

**You Belong to Me**

Standing in the hot early morning sun of the Egyptian desert, Midori wondered just what possessed her when she accepted Professor Sasaki's offer. Since her arrival, her mind has been erratic, even during the busiest moments, and it continually plagues her. This was the perfect opportunity to spend more time with him, but this was not what she originally had in mind.

As Professor Sasaki passed the dining tent on his way to his tent, he spotted Midori exiting and asked, "Sugiura, have you started cataloguing the pieces?"

The professor startled Midori, because her mind was still on cataloguing the pieces from this morning.

"Yes Professor, I have, but there seems to be a problem with the workers," Midori answered a bit distracted, remembering all the superstitions the workers voiced to her.

"Yes, yes, I know. Some of these men are worried about some curse or other. Never mind all that…are any of those pieces ready for shipment?" the Professor asked.

"They'll be ready in the morning," Midori replied, noticing the far off look in her mentor's eyes. "Is there a problem, Professor Sasaki?"

"No Sugiura, there isn't. Bring the cataloguing information to my tent as soon as it is complete. For now, I'll be leaving everything in your capable hands," the Professor answered, looking through Midori.

Midori thought he always seemed to be preoccupied and part of her didn't understand it. She pushed her large, wide-brimmed hat up from her eyes with her thumb and sighed heavily.

"Hey Youko, there's an 'I told you so' somewhere in this," Midori chuckled to herself as an arid breeze swept by.

As Midori headed back towards her tent, she couldn't shake the feelings of uncertainty about her choice and insecurity over her reason. She knew she wanted to be here, it was her field of study after all and it meant working with Professor Sasaki again, her mentor, but it was lonelier here than she remembered or expected.

As an archaeologist, Midori knew this was where she belonged and she was supposed to be happy in the field, searching for lost civilizations and long forgotten treasures, but she was still confused. For some unknown reason, she wasn't happy, well, not as happy as she thought she should be. Her head was beginning to hurt, so she shrugged, chuckled, and thought a drink sounded good about now.

"_You are out of your mind, Midori. It's too damn early for a drink."_

"Too damn hot, too," Midori said to no one, as she entered her tent.

Youko's voice had always been the one of reason and it was the voice she heard whenever thoughts like these crossed her mind.

"Okay, enough of this, I have work to do for Professor Sasaki," Midori reprimanded herself, as she sat at the makeshift desk and gathered up the paperwork she'd been working on.

With a heavy sigh, Midori started putting the papers in order. Suddenly, she remembered one of her last drinking escapades with Youko…

They had been celebrating the end of final exams at a local club, already at least one sheet to the wind, when someone fired up the karaoke machine.

Midori seemed to immediately sober up and smiled mischievously at Youko. If anything, Youko knew exactly what that smile meant…nothing good was about to happen. The wild redhead excused herself from the table, leaving a slightly nervous Youko, and headed towards the small stage.

"Don't even think of it, Midori," Youko said to herself, as she watched Midori speaking with the young woman on stage.

The sound of laughter emanated from Midori's tent as she remembered the look on Youko's face when she hit the stage singing her heart out to her extremely embarrassed best friend. Midori loved being with Youko, because they never had a bad time. Each time they got together, it was always fun and exciting, sometimes dangerous or crazy, but definitely exciting.

_Youko…_

Midori shook her head to clear her mind and attempted to look over some of the artifacts she had yet to catalogue. Pottery, papyrus, shrouds, figurines, and small sections of hieroglyphic tablets surrounded her and yet mocked her.

_Professor Sasaki…_

"All work and no play make Midori a boring girl," Midori chuckled and thought about Kei, the cute research intern.

Rational thought returned and Midori muttered, "No, you fool, she's not the one."

Midori deeply sighed and reminded herself, "All play and incomplete work, gets Sugiura booted off the site. I'm a scientist, not an irrational child…even though Youko would beg to differ."

As she was brushing off a tablet, Midori dropped it on her foot. Granted, the tablet was small, but it hurt like hell and Midori chided herself for allowing her mind to wander. She reminded herself the nature of her work was sensitive and snickered when her inner child muttered, _'You mean boring,' _and required her full attention.

After making sure her foot was okay, albeit sore, Midori returned to work on the last of the pieces she needed to catalogue and prep for the morning. No matter what else was going on around the site, she knew she needed to get the paperwork to the Professor early the next morning.

"Oh please Mamoru, you couldn't find your way out of a bathroom without instructions," A boisterous male voice joked outside Midori's tent.

"You are no better, Kato, always looking for the Professor's approval. If you try any harder, you'll be as bad as Sugiura. One step away from humping the man's leg like some horny puppy," replied a softer male voice.

Midori felt fire surge through her veins and silently cursed these two idiots, who were about to meet their makers.

"Excuse me," Midori stuck her head out of the tent and said through clenched teeth, trying to maintain an even tone.

"Yes, Miss Sugiura," both replied.

"Midori, please, call me Midori. I'm not that much older than you two. I only just graduated. I was wondering if you two could help me with some of these packing crates," Midori said with a forced cheerful smile.

In her mind, Midori was plotting how she was going to punish these two fools. Since arriving at the dig, neither young man had been very helpful with sharing the labor or the chores around the site. They were disrespectful behind the Professor's back and gave everyone else a hard time when asked to help in any way.

"Actually, um…Midori, Mamoru and I were asked by Professor Sasaki to help the others inside the new chamber," Kato replied, running a hand through his long black hair, trying to fit the bishonen stereotype.

"The Professor wants a bunch of pictures of the new section of glyphs…for a montage or something…I guess," Mamoru added, holding up his camera bag and motioning to the lights Kato was carrying.

Midori was having a difficult time suppressing the laughter threatening to bubble forth, as she planned her revenge on the two idiots before her…for the earlier comment and everything else. It was also notably hilarious Professor Sasaki assigned these two clowns to a job she and he completed last night.

Last night, while the others slept, Midori and the Professor both found themselves too curious to sleep. Midori had taken her gear down to the new chamber and was studying the wall of glyphs, when the Professor came in with his camera and some modern lighting equipment to replace the torches, in order to give off the necessary light for photography.

"Ah, Sugiura, couldn't sleep either I see," the Professor said as he began setting up the lights, not paying her much mind.

"No sir, I was too excited to sleep. Are you going to take pictures now?" Midori asked as she set her brush down and watched him finish setting up the last of the lights.

"I need to have this done correctly. We all know Mamoru and Kato won't, but they need something to keep them out of everyone's hair tomorrow, while we all prepare the shipment. The shipment of artifacts needs to be ready to go when the delivery truck arrives," Professor Sasaki said as he began taking pictures.

Midori laughed, because she knew the old man was no fool.

Midori focused on the two idiots in front of her and decided to level the playing field in her favor, unbeknownst to these two, of course.

"How about getting together for some drinks in the dining tent tonight…to celebrate the new find? I'll even supply the booze," Midori said, watching in silent glee, as the two young men tried to figure out if she was scamming them.

"Sure," Mamoru replied without much thought or hesitation, "What's the danger of a drink or two?"

Kato thought he saw a glint in Midori's eyes that bespoke of a trap, but she just smiled and sent them on their way. She watched them head towards the latest find, happily ignorant. Midori retreated into her tent and laughed madly.

_Danger indeed…_


End file.
